Samuel H
Major Contributor
(sorry, I thought it was "new" but I just noticed this is an old clip, so it surely was discussed here before; moderators: feel free to delete the thread if needed, and forgive the newbie, I just wasn't around when this came out...)
this is absolutely freaking awesome
http://vimeo.com/4041788
http://www.flickr.com/photos/_f/3768012394/
I believe it is a happy accident that happened when they joined up:
* a rolling shutter CMOS sensor
* a fast shutter setting
* a specific fps setting
my guessed scientific explanation is as follows:
if you set your shutter to 1/60th or so, motion blur kills the effect, that's why you need 1/1000th shutter or something like that
but the rolling shutter is absolutely indispensable, as it means that in these cameras, even though each pixel will be receiving light for 1/1000th of a second, it's not the same 1/1000th of a second for all of them: the bottom of the picture is taken around 1/50th of a second or more after the top of the picture was taken (total guesstimate looking at panning tests)
this "frozen image, taken at different moments in time for different parts of the picture" is what gives you the effect: when the top of the image was taken, the string was on the left, and then, as the rest of the image was progressively being taken, it was on the right, then on the left again, etc
the other half of the equation is that, in order to get smooth movement out of a series of pictures like that, you need to synchronize your fps (24, 25, 30, 50 or 60) so that the start of each consecutive picture is taken at a point when the string is somewhat close to where it was at the start of the previous one
really, really freaky indeed
this is absolutely freaking awesome
http://vimeo.com/4041788
http://www.flickr.com/photos/_f/3768012394/
I believe it is a happy accident that happened when they joined up:
* a rolling shutter CMOS sensor
* a fast shutter setting
* a specific fps setting
my guessed scientific explanation is as follows:
if you set your shutter to 1/60th or so, motion blur kills the effect, that's why you need 1/1000th shutter or something like that
but the rolling shutter is absolutely indispensable, as it means that in these cameras, even though each pixel will be receiving light for 1/1000th of a second, it's not the same 1/1000th of a second for all of them: the bottom of the picture is taken around 1/50th of a second or more after the top of the picture was taken (total guesstimate looking at panning tests)
this "frozen image, taken at different moments in time for different parts of the picture" is what gives you the effect: when the top of the image was taken, the string was on the left, and then, as the rest of the image was progressively being taken, it was on the right, then on the left again, etc
the other half of the equation is that, in order to get smooth movement out of a series of pictures like that, you need to synchronize your fps (24, 25, 30, 50 or 60) so that the start of each consecutive picture is taken at a point when the string is somewhat close to where it was at the start of the previous one
really, really freaky indeed
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